


For In That Sleep Of Death What Dreams May Come

by Kioee



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Nightmares, reincarnation ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-13 18:03:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1235935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kioee/pseuds/Kioee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams." - Elias Canetti</p>
            </blockquote>





	For In That Sleep Of Death What Dreams May Come

The twinge of a full bladder woke Jean. He knew it was way too goddamn early in the morning, but knew he had to get up and walk down the hall to the bathroom. He was faintly aware of the sound of typing and as he opened his eyes, he blinked against the light of Eren’s laptop screen. His mind was too fuzzy and his bladder too full to say anything about it at the moment but when he came back from the bathroom, he leaned against the desk.

“Get some sleep. You can finish your essay tomorrow. It’s not due until Friday, anyway.” It could have been weird that he knew Eren’s homework schedule so well, but the guy literally never shut up about all the work he had to do, and since Jean was his roommate, he was also the inevitable sounding board.

“Can’t sleep,” was Eren’s only reply, as he kept focused on the screen in front of him.

“Not if you sit in front of that computer at all hours in the morning.” Great. Jean was turning him into some nagging mother. He couldn’t help but be concerned, whether it was out of some unspoken roommate loyalty or any wealth of feelings that Jean didn’t want to think about.

“Just shut up, Jean. You go to sleep if it’s something that means so goddamn much to you.”

It wasn’t the first time this week that Eren had forsaken sleep, and it was only Wednesday. “Dude, come on. You need sleep or else you’ll just run yourself down and get sick. Don’t kill yourself, just because you want to get ahead on a couple essays.”

“Shut up, I said. You don’t know anything.” Eren’s voice was breaking and Jean felt distinctly uncomfortable with a crying roommate.

“Jesus, Eren, what’s wrong?” Maybe it was the sleep deprivation that was causing him to break down. No matter what it was Jean was not the consoling type.

“I. Can’t. Sleep.” Eren was looking up at Jean now, like he had completely lost his mind and was begging for help.

“What’s going on? You’re not doing drugs or anything, are you?” He didn’t figure Eren as the druggie type, but staying up all hours of the night in a craze was enough indication that something was out of the ordinary.

Eren shook his head. “I keep having these dreams. Nightmares. They happen every night or day or whenever I finally manage to get some sleep.”

There were no signs of Eren having woken up from nightmares in the middle of the night and Jean thought he either must be a heavy sleeper or Eren had been covering up the whole time. That was more in line with Eren’s normal behavior. Making people worry about him was something out of the question. The fact that he was talking to Jean about having nightmares meant the situation had to be messed up. “What are they about?”

Eren opened his mouth to speak, then immediately covered his mouth with his hands, looking like he was about to puke, and shook his head furiously. The tears were coming again and Jean shifted, but he wasn’t going to just stand there and watch Eren cry. He wrapped his arms around his roommate and tried to be as comforting as possible. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. They’re just dreams. They’re not real.”

But Eren pulled away. “I think it is real. It’s the same thing all the time, but not always the exact same thing. Different things happening but always the same place with these monsters, and there’s so much blood and it _feels_ real.” 

There was no good way to deal with Eren when he was this freaked out, but Jean wrapped his arms around Eren again and guided him up and over to their bunk beds. Eren had claimed the top, much to Jean’s annoyance, but tonight there was no climbing up the frame. Jean sat with Eren, pulling him down gently onto Jean’s bed, and he rubbed his shoulders. 

“And you were there, and Armin and Mikasa were there. You were almost killed. I thought you were dead, Jean.” The panic in his voice had risen and Jean just pulled him closer.

“I’m here. I’m here and I’m okay. I’ve got you right here. You just lie down and I’ll be right with you.” He shifted over to give them both room to lie down, and Eren looked at the space on the mattress and back to Jean, shaking his head. Jean couldn’t blame him; from what Eren described it sounded like staying awake forever was worth it.

Eren clung to Jean’s shirt and curled himself into Jean’s embrace. They could deal with any awkwardness in the morning. At the moment Jean rubbed circles on Eren’s back, murmuring over and over that he was there and that everything was okay. Eventually, Eren’s sobs died down and his breathing became slow and even, and Jean knew he was asleep. Keeping him there, Jean drifted off himself. 

For the first time in weeks Eren slept without nightmares. Instead he dreamed of oceans.


End file.
